SHOTS HEARD ‘ROUND THE WORLD
I talked a couple of weeks ago about how stale the NBA can be at this time of year. Sure, we’ve always still got a couple of debates up in the air (Dirk or Nash for MVP?) and a couple of interesting stories jumping off (Kobe dropping 50 every night? Ron Artest retiring...or not retiring?), but for the most part, we're just waiting around to see which team in the East wants to get knocked out by the Pistons in the first round.
Boy, was I wrong. Last night, Rasheed Wallace, fresh off a one-game suspension, provided a moment that, some other miracle aside, will be taking home an ESPY. Without a doubt. You don’t need a set-up for this one. Just watch:
One of the greatest endings to a game that I've ever seen. Now, if you listen to the announcer at the end, he says, “Rasheed practices that shot,” and it’s true. For whatever reason, that shot might be the most practiced shot in basketball. When you’re 10, it’s on the playground with your friends counting down from 5 (note that Rasheed only had 1.5 seconds and his team didn’t even start off with the ball). When you’re in high school, your coach yells at you at least once every practice for practicing that shot as opposed to free throws. And Gilbert “The Gambling Man” Arenas is known to shoot from half-court before breaking for the pre-game huddle. It’s an amazing shot by Rasheed, but I guarantee it’s not one he doesn’t hit early and often in practice. Oh, and the Pistons won, too.
Chick picks: Shhhh…Don’t tell anybody, but I’ve secretly been watching the women’s college basketball tournament for about a week now. If you haven’t been following (and I’m guessing from the looks I get that most of you aren’t), there’s certainly been more drama than the men’s tourney. A girl on Duke missed two free throws with 0.1 seconds left to lose to Rutgers in the Sweet Sixteen. The LSU team made the Final Four for the fourth straight year, even after losing their head coach to a soap opera-like scandal (and they still paid her a Final Four bonus!). And there’s a steady growth that you can see developing in the women’s game. Catch a Tennessee game if you can. The way they play D and run their offense is serious. And Candace Parker is one of the most exciting young people playing basketball right now, male or female. I’m picking ‘em to take it all (real bold, right?). Maybe I'll even start up a women’s bracket next year.
Illegal procedure: Also down in Tennessee, Titans safety “Pacman” Jones (Real name: Adam) is back in the news. Police are now looking to bring up charges against Jones following his alleged role in a strip club shooting last month in Las Vegas. I caught an interesting Sportscenter piece last week on Jones, where his own mother went on the record to say that Jones is going to continue to get into trouble as long as he hangs around the friends he grew up with. The segment also pointed to an old quote where Jones stated that he’d give up his millions before he gave up his friends. Interesting point. I get the feeling “Pacman” is gonna come out of this situation for the worse, but the NFL needs to get this guy to the point where he can help out younger players in the league. Do you really have to give up your old friends when you sign your name on the dotted line? Or, do you have to realize that things have changed and learn to adapt to your new relationship with your friends (in addition to keeping your high-profile self outta the strip club at 5AM)? He’s only 23. Only 23! Work with “Pacman” a little bit and he might be the perfect guy to answer those questions and help the next-gen players…Or treat this guy as an isolated incident, ruin his career and wait for the next guy with some rowdy friends to come along.
Dream team: Real quick, the AP All-American team was announced yesterday. Greg Oden (Ohio State), Kevin Durant (Texas), Alando Tucker (Wisconsin), Acie Law IV (Texas A&M) and Arron Afflalo (UCLA) made the squad. It feels like Joakim Noah (Florida) should be on there. Love Oden but he only played part of the season. I hate rooting for frontrunners but Noah is college basketball. (He played a year of H.S. ball in Jersey, too!)
VC is gonna post some of those hot Tony Parker songs over on her blog soon. Be sure to check those out ‘cause I’m sure they’re fire. (sigh)
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